Here we are in week 4 of the 52 week challenge. The subject this week is my great uncle Georgie who is on my adopted fathers side of the tree. George Coveney Bird, known as Georgie, was Henry Ross Bird's brother. I found out a lot about him from a local book 'Hook Remembered' and have always found him a fascinating character.He was a keen sportsman and loved horse riding. He kept racing horses in the paddocks and was a keen hunter who had formed a pack of beagle hounds at a young age. He was born in 1851 at the family farm in Chessington, Surrey, run by his father, George Bird, who I will tell you about at some point. His parents had already had 4 girls, so were probably pleased when Georgie arrived, quickly followed a couple of years later by my great grandfather. Sometime before 1879 his father gave a lifetime gift of the farm and all its contents to both boys so they could run it together. There is evidence that they continued to run the farm until about 1890 when it was sold. He almost certainly used his share of the proceeds to buy a manor house, The Rhodrons (see picture above). Georgie married the wonderfully named 'Nina Mabel Florence St Paul' in 1891. The 1911 census says there were 13 rooms so it was quite a formidable manor house. They continued to live there until his death, and then by his wife probably up to her death in 1935. Georgie lived on the cusp between the horse and the bicycle and the motor car. Unlike an uncle of mine who wrote the classic book, "Veteran Cars by Anthony Bird" (which you can still get on Amazon), Georgie hated them. He could not come to terms with the new invention. He saw red every time one passed the end of his drive, which today is the extremely busy A243 Leatherhead Road. He put notices out and used to shake his fists at motorists who he blamed for ruining his crops. 'Hook Remembered' says he was “a most colourful character”. One evening in November 1930, now 79 years old, he was wheeling his bicycle along the Leatherhead Road when he was hit by a car. He was taken to Epsom Cottage Hospital where he died a few hours later. Before he died he said “I tried to dodge the brutes but they came and hit me in the back”.Ironic that someone so anti the motor car should be killed by one.

I don't remember reading about this person so all the more interesting when you fins his actual gravestone!

Reply

Simon

25/7/2017 10:42:48 pm

It's difficult to believe i started this project in January 2014. So much more has come online over that time, especially with newspapers, that every time I revisit an old blog I find extra information. Will be updating a few stories in the months ahead.